Eight Fundamental Truths: Wisdom From Our Pious Predecessors

The Eight Fundamental Truths: A Conversation Between Shaqiq al-Balkhi and Hatim al-Assam

Today, I would like to share with you one beautiful conversation that took place between a teacher and a student from our pious predecessors, from our Salaf. It's not really a conversation, but rather a question and a very detailed answer. And insha'Allah, I hope and pray we will find a lot of benefit from the points that will be mentioned.

It is narrated from Shaqiq al-Balkhi, rahimahullah, that he said to his student Hatim al-Assam, that you have remained in my company and stayed with me for a long period of time. What have you learned in all of these long years? So Hatim al-Assam replied that I learned in your company the following eight masa'il — eight fundamental truths, eight universally applicable realities of our existence.

Who Were These Two Scholars?

Shaqiq al-Balkhi, rahimahullah, was a great scholar of tazkiyah, of ihsan, of suluk — a great sheikh of the Khurasani school in the second century. But not only was he an alim of the ilm al-batin, the science of spirituality, but also he was a student of none other than Imam Abu Hanifa, rahimahullah, himself, the great faqih and jurist. And he was a close friend of Qazi Abu Yusuf, the student of Imam Abu Hanifa, who was the chief justice of Harun al-Rashid.

And his student, Hatim al-Assam, was a great scholar in his own right — the one who will be answering about the eight masa'il that he learned. One note about him: the word Assam means deaf, and he was not deaf by any means. He had sharp hearing; he would be listening to his mashayikh and learning from them his whole life.

But the reason he got this title al-Assam — the Deaf — is because one day when he was giving his dars, and it was a very powerful dars in the masjid, afterwards, one senior old lady, al-ajuz, came to ask him a question. She was so frightened by the ru'ab that he had — how awe-inspiring he was — and excited to be able to ask him directly the question, that in her heightened level of anxiety and with her old age combined, she ended up passing gas, loudly. But Hatim al-Assam, not being assam by any means, being able to hear very well, immediately started acting as if he could not hear at all, or had a hearing difficulty, and he said, "Can you please say louder? Ask louder, I can't hear what you're saying."

He acted as if he was hard of hearing. Those who were around knew that he could hear very well, but they understood what he was doing, and they continued with that act. They did not expose him. He said, "No, I can't hear — louder, louder," until she relaxed, and then she was confident that he did not hear what happened, and she was not embarrassed.

This is very similar to the story of Umar, radiyallahu anhu, when he was sitting with his companions, and a very strong odor came out. Initially, his knee-jerk reaction was that whoever caused it should go and make wudu. But thereafter, he corrected himself and said, "How about we all make wudu." So he got up, made wudu, and he made everyone make wudu as well. The lesson therein is quite obvious — about maintaining the izzah and honor of our brothers and sisters.

The Importance of Extended Study Under a Scholar

Notice that Shaqiq al-Balkhi, rahimahullah, said: صَحِبْتَنِي مُدَّةً — "You have been in my company for a long period of time." The tanwin here is for ta'zim — emphasizing a truly long period of time. This is something necessary to reflect upon in this day and age, where we want quick results. We want to spend just an hour or two, a weekend or two, and get our certification for different worldly accomplishments. But when it comes to the deen, it requires an extended period of time — not only in self-study, but in the mulazamah of a shaykh, in the company of a scholar who has tread the path before us.

As Imam al-Shafi'i, rahimahullah — Muhammad ibn Idris al-Shafi'i, known as the Imam of the Madhhab al-Shafi'i as well as a muhaddith and faqih, and also a poet — in his collection of poetry, this poem is attributed to him:

He says: "Oh my dear brother, لَنْ تَنَالَ الْعِلْمَ — you can never acquire knowledge إِلَّا بِسِتَّةٍ — unless you have six things. I will tell you the details of the six by explaining them here under."

ذَكَاءٌ — You have to have intelligence. وَحِرْصٌ — Sincere desire to study. وَاجْتِهَادٌ — Burning the midnight oil, working hard. You have to have your material means to get through life — if you are starving to death or don't have physical means, you can't study as well. And the last two are what we are referring to: صُحْبَةُ أُسْتَاذٍ وَطُولُ زَمَانِ — companionship and mentorship of a Shaykh, and an extended period of time.

The Eight Masa'il of Hatim al-Assam

The First: Make Your Good Deeds Your Beloved

Verily, I looked at the entire creation — observing, pondering, reflecting. فَإِذَا كُلُّ شَخْصٍ لَهُ مَحْبُوبٌ — everyone has a Mahbub, everyone has someone that they love dearly. But what I realized, what I witnessed, is فَإِذَا وَصَلَ إِلَى الْقَبْرِ — when a person ends up reaching his grave, فَارَقَهُ مَحْبُوبُهُ — his beloved abandons him. The beloved turns its back, betrays him, just leaves him alone when he needs him the most. So therefore, جَعَلْتُ حَسَنَاتِي مَحْبُوبِي — I made my good deeds my Mahbub, لِتَكُونَ فِي الْقَبْرِ مَعِي — so that my good deeds can enter the grave with me. SubhanAllah.

The Second: Restrain the Nafs from Its Desires

The second thing: I looked at the statement of Allah, the ayah of the Qur'an, wherein Allah is praising those who are beloved to Him and will be saved on the Day of Judgment. And Allah says:

The one who protects himself from his own desires, stops his nafs from following the desires, from becoming a slave to the desires. So he says: I fought against my nafs in squashing my desires, such that it became consistent in the obedience of Allah. There is an initial phase of the jihad against the nafs, and finally when you overcome the nafs, it begins to enjoy the ibadah of Allah. There are two phases. In the initial phase you will not find جُعِلَتْ قُرَّةُ عَيْنِي فِي الصَّلَاةِ — "the coolness of my eyes is in salah." That is the final phase, after the jihad against the nafs reaches completion.

The Third: Send Your Valuables Ahead to Allah

He says: I saw everyone — they have this practice, this logical practice — that if there is anything of value, if they possess something of value, they guard it, they protect it. They don't just leave it anywhere. So if anyone is lucky enough to own something of extreme value, they will guard it, protect it, ensure it is in a safe place. Then I looked at the ayah in the Qur'an, where Allah says in Surah al-Nahl, ayah 96:

Every single thing that you possess in this dunya is going to be destroyed, it is going to end, it will be lost. And whatever is with Allah — that is what will remain. So I looked around, and anything that I had of value, I wanted to preserve it and save it, so I sent it to Allah so it would be in a safe place. Because everything that is left here will be destroyed. SubhanAllah.

The Fourth: Seek Honor Through Taqwa Alone

He said: the fourth thing is that I looked around at the creation and I saw that all of the people — they are striving, they are working hard. إِنَّ سَعْيَكُمْ لَشَتَّى — people are striving hard in diverse ways to amass wealth, and honor, sharaf. And at the end of the day, this worldly honor, worldly wealth, this name and fame of this worldly life — وَلَيْسَتْ بِشَيْءٍ — is of no value whatsoever.

Honor is just a perception in the minds of people about you. It does not reflect the reality whatsoever. It could be based on false news, false perception, their false understanding. So they are honoring you because of something they believe is worthy of being honored, when truly it is not something worthy of being honored. Then I looked at the ayah of the Qur'an:

Verily, the most honorable — akram is the superlative form — the ultimate most honored individual, not just an honored one, but the ultimate most honored individual in the eyes of Allah, whose eyes and perception is the only one that truly counts. Who is that one? أَتْقَاكُمْ — the one amongst you who has the most taqwa. Not the most wealth, or lineage, or family, or worldly accomplishments, but the one who has true taqwa, the most God-fearing, God-conscious individual, is the one who is the most honored. So I began my effort to inculcate taqwa to the best of my abilities, لِأَكُونَ عِنْدَهُ كَرِيمًا — so I can become honorable in the eyes of Allah.

The Fifth: Abandon Jealousy, for Rizq Is from Allah

He said: I saw all of the people — by and large, the majority of mankind — يَتَحَاسَدُونَ, they are jealous of one another. Not يَحْسَدُونَ, but يَتَحَاسَدُونَ — meaning they are jealous of each other mutually. One is jealous of the other, the other one is jealous back. So then I looked at the Qur'an. Allah says:

نَحْنُ — We are the ones. قَسَمْنَا — "already divided." But نَحْنُ قَسَمْنَا — look, no one else. The plurality here is for honor, the royal "We." There is only one Allah, وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ. We are the ones who have divided between people their provision in this worldly life. Whatever rizq you see, whatever material things people have, it is Allah who has divided it. So when I realized that Allah is the one who has given the rizq — somebody has a beautiful wife, somebody has righteous children, somebody has a beautiful job, a beautiful home, something which I don't have — but who gave it to him? It is Allah. And how can I object against the decree of Allah? فَتَرَكْتُ الْحَسَدَ — so I left all jealousy for the rest of my life. It just left my heart.

The Sixth: Make Shaytan Your Only Enemy

He said: I saw the people — they are engaged in so much enmity, fighting with one another. Everyone has their own enemy that they're fighting with. Perpetual fights. So then I looked in the Qur'an, and I came across this ayah, Surah Fatir, ayah 6:

Verily, Shaytan — he is your enemy. So regard him as your enemy. He is an open enemy. So then I left all of this enmity with human beings and others, and I made Shaytan my enemy — وَحْدَهُ — only him. Just as you say لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ, over here too he says وَحْدَهُ — only him, I made him and only him my enemy.

The Seventh: Occupy Yourself with What You Owe Allah

He says: I saw the people — يُذِلُّونَ أَنْفُسَهُمْ — it is not only that they are working hard, but they are literally tiring themselves to the point of exhaustion, even humiliating themselves in seeking the provision of the dunya and in working for the dunya. So then I saw the ayah wherein Allah says:

دَابَّة — from دَبَّ, meaning to crawl — anything that is walking on the earth, every animal, every human being. It is upon Allah to provide them their rizq. Allah has taken the responsibility. So then I engaged myself in what I owe Allah, not in what Allah has already taken upon Himself for me.

The Eighth: Place Your Tawakkul in Allah Alone

I saw the people — they are trusting, they have a lot of trust, in their businesses, and in their factories, and in their worldly occupations, in صِحَّةِ أَبْدَانِهِمْ — in the physical health that they have. They trust in all of these things. But then I saw the ayah of Allah, where He says:

Whoever trusts in Allah, then He will be sufficient for him. So then I placed my trust in Allah alone, and I gave up trusting in all of these things.

The Teacher's Response

Shaqiq, the Ustadh, told his student: "Oh Hatim, may Allah give you further tawfiq. I have studied deeply the knowledge of the Torah, the Injil, the Zabur, and the Furqan al-'Azim, the Qur'an. And I found that all of the different ways of khair and religiosity revolve around these eight principles. Whoever keeps them in front of them will have made amal on all four books."

May Allah give us tawfiq to make amal on these eight principles. Ameen.

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Tonight we have a very important monthly seminar: "From the Cradle to the Grave: The Obligation of Learning" by Mawlana Tahseen Khan — one of our staff members here who has a very unique and compelling story. Alongside his chemical engineering degree and work, he continued to study for 16 years from different mashayikh until he graduated from the Dars al-Nizami curriculum — 16 years of study alongside work, in different states as he moved, until he became a teacher here. He will be talking about the obligation of learning — not just for young students, but for all of us, at any age and at any point in our lives.

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Du'a

Please remember in your du'as: the Muslims of Palestine, Sister Ruby Khan who is in critical condition, and Brother Safiyuddin Siddiqui who has passed away. May Allah have mercy on the deceased Muslims and grant shifa to those who are ill.